Hotel Ratna Kuta

... LOVED Hong Kong, now up there on the ever-expanding list of cities I want to live in! A weird mix of East and West with a skyline to rival Sydney's and a diversity of people to match. From there it was onto Beijing where the highlight was trekking along the Great Wall... the city itself I found hard to warm to, rather massive and unfriendly and I'm not sure it could ever make it onto my list!! The last stop was Shanghai, which seemed a ...

I left Gili Trawangan on Thursday morning. Met another domestic tourists then we traveled together to Bali. Sat in the taxi full of people, slept in the little mosque, and burned our skin on the boat, haha unforgettable. <br><br>Hello Bali on Thursday night! I stayed at Tunjung Bali Inn Kuta. The place was so beautiful, I didn't expect a good place like this with a very cheap ammount to spent, 100.000IDR/night for single. And later, this place would leave a very good ...

... a flower power woman, rustic, camping on the beach to "avoid the concrete jungle and ways of the westerner", getting with one with nature. She imparts her wisdom to us as the fire glows, then starts chuffing on what seems to be a large cigarette, her earthy wisdom quickly turns to paranoid ***** as she informs us of how the government is putting fluoride into the water to control our minds and that the star above us is actually a spy ...

... he is right. For our money, the beach in Bantayan has to go down as top 3 I've ever seen, and it is certainly the most unique. Everywhere we went (EVEN in the big cities), Satu and I felt like Brangelina. Everyone says "hi misters", and waves. Children LITERALLY follow you, assuming that because you are white - you MUST be famous.... its really quite strange... and even WITH all the ******** we experienced in 3 weeks there, we had a GREAT time. For 2 weeks ...

... need to have people watching me. I guess it's because I don't need to stand on a podium for people to watch me!][Tom: You? Balls? I've seen your balls. They're tiny.] [Rich: They only look small because of what they're hanging under] Andy later told us that he regretted not coming out with us to a club in York, for pure comedy value, haha. Tom got a few hand-shakes on the way down from the podium by various other amused clubbers. Tom: What a guy. For the rest of the night, when ...

... banquet of Indonesian food with their family. It was a great insight and lovely to be involved!! But it was time to move on and we set off for the little town of Pandang Bai for the night so we could catch a ferry in the morning. Lombok So after two weeks of Bali we set off for it's neighbouring island of Lombok. A pretty long day of travelling got us to the south end and to another place called Kuta!?! A place renowned for surfing which neither of us do, but hey!? The ...

... se lance du feu et des noix de cocos enflammes. comme vous devinez c'etait la danse du feu. Si on a bien compris c'est un duel entre deux dieux singe . . . et oui ca fini bien a la fin. Et nous, nous avons fait la danse de la pluie puisqu'il a plu tout le long du spectacle, nous etions tous sous des parapluies. Ils pleut encore et encore. Bisouxxxxxxxxxxxx France et Rejean

... Although I'm not a surfer myself I could see why its so popular as a surfing destination, the waves looked pretty good. I walked round the streets looking for food that night and came across the memorial to the Bali Bomb victims in 2002. I have to say it hit me like a truck. We're used to seeing lists of names like that in war memorials in England all the time but its not the same. With those I see them as a historical event, and while I acknowledge the tragedy ...

... heads there are here for sale. These Buddhas (not the laughing Buddha but the one that looks like it has a head of tight Afro curls) are available in a gzillion forms. As metal figurines, as artificial-stone figurines, in bas relief on your glass candle burner, even in dreadful paint-by-numbers oil canvasses (even saw a fluoro checkerboard version done Andy Warhol style pop art style). Hmm.. Buddhas galore in a predominantly Hindu island ...

... Take a look at the pics anyway; the fog adds a spooky element to the visit. I'm going to try to visit the temple again on the trip south from Lovina. There is a big, once a year, temple ceremony happening on March 19th at the temple. And seeing as I have to be in Kuta on the 20th to visit Sha, it seems fortuities that I should spend the 19th on the volcano at the temple. We'll see what happens.